Junkyard Date
by Andrea O'Down
Summary: My entry for a contest on deviantART. Donnie finally has a date with April. But unfortunately she doesn't know anything about it being a date. And unfortunately, Donnie can't get rid of Mikey in time.


Donatello couldn't believe it. He had a date with April! Finally! Oh, he was so happy. Okay, actually April didn't know it was a date. He had told her he and his brothers were having a picnic tonight and invited her to join them. April said yes without hesitation. Little did she know Donnie somehow forgot to tell his brothers about it. So it would be just the two of them, and this could be considered a date, right?

It was the perfect plan. April was somewhere in the sewers together with Splinter, doing some training exercise. She wouldn't be back before tonight. All he had to do was making his brothers leave the lair before April was back and preparing everything for the picnic. The first one was a bit tricky, but he had a solution for that was well. He would tell his brothers that he was going to the junkyard tonight, looking for some usable things and that he might need some help bringing all the stuff home. This usually made them come up with some lame excuse. And they usually left the lair in no time, just in case. So he was pretty sure nothing would stand in his way to spend a great time with April.

But he wasn't so lucky. When he he got to step one of his perfect plan (getting his brothers out of the lair before April was back), Leo and Raph almost immediately came up with an excuse – that they planned to do some training tonight somewhere in the city which was unfortunately far away from the junkyard and thus couldn't make it. So this was going as planned.

Mikey on the other hand found the idea of spending the night at a junkyard great and accepted to join his older brother. Donnie knew about Mikey's addiction to grab stuff he somehow thought was beautiful – "a treasure" in his own words – but usually, he hated junkyards. Donnie was distressed. Why did Mikey have to change his mind about junkyards today of all days?!

So when Leo and Raph had left Donnie went to the kitchen to prepare everything for the picnic. And he still had to come up with something to get rid of Mikey.  
Speaking of Mikey, the youngest turtle was just entering the kitchen.

"Whatcha doing, Donnie?"

"Preparing everything for the picnic."

"Picnic? We are having a picnic? I bet you forgot to tell Leo and Raph about that," Mikey said. "I'll send them a text."

"No, you don't!" Donnie looked at his brother quite furious.

"Whoa, watch it, Donnie! What's with the sudden outburst of anger?" Mikey looked at his brother in a surprised way.

Donnie sighed. "Sorry, Mikey, it's just that they are..uhm…busy. I don't want to bother them."

"Okay. So it's just you and me?"

"And April. Unless you change your mind. It's a junkyard picnic. You know you hate junkyards."

Mikey waved aside. "That was before I realized how many shiny things you can find at junkyards. Seriously, why hasn't anyone told me before? It's like a treasure island! I am so excited! When are we leaving?"

"When April is back."

"Okay, see you then!" And with that Mikey left the kitchen.

Donnie sighed.

* * *

So, here they were now, Donnie and April sitting on a blanket, each munching a slice of pizza, while Mikey was running around and picking up stuff. Every now and then he came over to Donnie showing him something he had found and asking what it was, then grabbing a slice of pizza, eating it in two bites and continuing his treasure hunt.

There was an awkward silence when Mikey had left. April was still confused about the location. Donnie had told her that he had thought it would be a good idea to combine the beautiful (the picnic) with the useful (the junkyard). Instead of an answer April had just raised her eyebrows, but joined them nonetheless.

Donnie was still mad at Mikey, and this made it complicated for him to start a conversation with April. He had planned to tell her about his feelings, but now, as Mikey could show up any second that seemed to be really bad idea. And so he just kept silent.

"Look! Look!" Mikey shouted as he ran over to them. "What's this, what's this, what's this?"

Donnie looked at the thing in Mikey's hand the younger turtle was showing him.

"A screw," Donnie answered with a sigh.

"It's beautiful!" And with that Mikey placed the screw on the pile of things he had already collected. That pile was rather big. Mikey looked at it thoughtfully.

"Okay, I think I'll bring that back to the lair," he said. "If I find any more, it won't fit into my bag. I'll come back later."

Donnie's heart jumped as he watched Mikey shoving his little 'treasures' into his bag, waving at him and April and then leaving.

Finally! Donnie smiled.

April looked at him. "What's so funny?"

"Funny? Nothing."

"You're smiling."

"Uhm…well, it makes me happy to see Mikey this excited about some junk."

April raised an eyebrow. "Okay."

Donnie took a deep breath. Now was his chance to talk to her. Now this really was a date. Could you believe it? He had a date with April! Now he could tell her about his feelings! Or, wait a second. Was that really such a good idea? What if she'd tell him that she could only see him as a friend? What if she would laugh at him? He felt his heart skip a beat.

He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't realize the rain clouds which began to gather. And April, still a bit tired from a day full of training, was lacking in concentration as well.

They only snapped back to reality when a roll of thunder could be heard, and it almost immediately started down pouring.

"That's just great!" Donnie shouted as he jumped to his feet.

He and April quickly gathered their stuff and left the junkyard. When they reached the sewers they were soaked to the skin. Well, April was, her wet clothes clung to her body. Donnie didn't care that he was all wet – as a turtle that somehow felt 'normal' –, but he was worried about April.

He eyed her up with a concerned look in his eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "Nothing a bubble bath can't fix."

But then she sneezed.

Donnie frowned. There had to be something he could do. And without further thinking he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her a bit closer as they went back to the lair.

"Donnie, I appreciate your concern, but you are all wet yourself," April stated. "That makes it a bit useless, don't you think?"

"I know," Donnie answered. "But that's all I can do. It's my fault. Please let me at least do that."

April sighed. "Okay." And then she moved even a bit closer.

They were walking shoulder to shoulder in silence, but then Donnie felt the need to talk to her.

"I'm sorry it was such a horrible date," he said with a sigh.

"Date?" April asked. "That was a date?"  
Donnie was rooted to the spot, and as he had still his arm around April's shoulders, he forced her to stop as well.

"I…I mean picnic!" he said, his a voice a pinch too high. "'Picnic' is the word I was looking for!"

"Donnie, look at me," April said.

The mutant hesitated, but then did as she wished.

"Why didn`t you tell me this was planned to be a date?"

"I thought if we could just spend some time alone I could think of it as a date. Not that you have to! I just liked the idea of thinking of it as a date. Well, after Mikey left, of course. Just couldn't get rid of him today."

"And why didn't you ask me out on a date in the first place?"

Donnie sighed again. "I was afraid you'd say no."

"Well if you ask a girl out, there is always a fifty percent chance she might say no."

"But I wouldn't have asked _a girl_ out. I would have asked you out." Donnie looked her deeply in the eye. "What would you have answered?"

April looked to the side for a moment, musing. "I think I would have said yes."

"You would have?!" Donnie burst out, and before he even knew what he was doing he pulled her closer and kissed her on the lips. But when it hit him what he was doing right now, he immediately let go of her.

"Sorry," he said giggling insecurely. "I just got carried away."

April just looked at him, her eyes still widened in surprise. "That's… okay, I guess."

And then she placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him deeply in the eye and kissed him. It was a soft, tender kiss. Donnie kissed her back, but when their kiss grew deeper, he realized how cold her lips were. He broke the kiss carefully.

"We should get you back to the lair," he said as she gave him a questioning look. "You might catch a cold."

"Okay." April nodded.

Donnie placed his arm around her shoulders again, pulling her even closer than before, as they walked back to the lair.

"You know, Donnie, that really was a horrible date," April said chuckling.

"I promise next time it won't be," he answered. "That is if you say yes, of course. Will you say yes?"

April looked at him with a smirk. "Well, there is a 50 percent chance I will."

"April!"


End file.
